Klarinet Archive - Posting 000315.txt from 2002/01

From: "Daniluk, Bill" <bdaniluk@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Performance from memory
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 12:51:44 -0500

As Karl alludes to here, I think that there's much more behind the
difference between memorized and non-memorized playing than performance
practice. There is a complex interplay of ear, mind, and muscle memory
involved in playing by memory. Retrieving a mental image of the music may
or may not be involved - personally, I feel (with the hand) and hear the
<very few> pieces I have successfully memorized; retrieving the image of the
music plays no part, though some here have commented otherwise. Playing
popular or jazz tunes 'by ear' seems to require minimal printed music,
though I know that fake books are widely used for club dates, when chord
changes haven't been memorized. I'm convinced that the mental concentration
necessary to play a piece in a way that replicates our vision for that piece
works differently for the cases when there is and where there is not a
sheet of music in front of us. I would be very interested in the opinions
of the professional players on this list regarding this topic.
BD

-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Krelove [mailto:kkrelove@-----.com]
Subject: RE: [kl] Performance from memory

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alexander Brash [mailto:mactrek@-----.com]
> Does anyone know why chamber music "shouldn't?" be memorized?
>
> ~Alexander
>
I hinted at this in my post: whether or not the music _is_ memorized is in
an important way different from whether or not it's _performed_ from memory.
I'm not so sure that active players don't end up pretty thoroughly
memorizing lots of standard pieces from both the standard chamber and
symphonic repertories. But the sheer size of these repertories makes playing
those concerts from memory, I think, impractical.

Of course conductors do it. But then when they have a memory lapse we just
bury our faces in our music and haul them out of trouble. :-)

Karl Krelove

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